Monthly Archives: May 2012

From the Storage Archives: The Unseen Sailors’ Tattoo

Posted on May 22, 2012 by

Science Museum Object Number A747 & A754: Preserved human skins, tattooed with a pair of eyes. Dimensions: A747 h137 x w88mm x d1.5mm; A754 h144mm x w86mm x d2mm* *Depth measurements are given at their thickest points. Date: c.1830-1900 Of … Continue reading →

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From the Storage Archives: A Dagger Through the Heart

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

Science Museum Object Number A670: Preserved human skin, showing the tattooed image of a dagger piercing the skin of the chest. Dimensions: h258mm x w123mm x d0.4mm Date: c.1850-1920 The image above shows an example of the iconic dagger-through-the-heart tattoo. … Continue reading →

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The Flesh Remembers: Memento Mori Tattoos

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt. – Susan Sontag The … Continue reading →

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